In a surprising turn of events, Alyx Jones, the visionary founder of Silver Script Games, found herself navigating uncharted waters just hours before the BAFTA awards. The highly anticipated trailer for her studio’s upcoming game, The Quiet Things, was set to debut during the prestigious event, a moment Jones had been eagerly preparing for over the past two weeks. However, a late-night phone call dashed those plans, revealing that the trailer had been pulled due to its sensitive content.
In a heartfelt LinkedIn post, Jones expressed her disappointment, stating, “It was meant to be shown during the awards show and reveal our release date. For the last two weeks I’d been working hard to cut this trailer together while already badly burned out, because I believed this was the biggest opportunity we were ever likely to get.”
BAFTA’s Response
Responding to the situation, BAFTA clarified their decision in a statement to Kotaku, explaining, “We made a compliance decision not to show a trailer of an unreleased game that contains themes that may be a trigger for some, in consideration of our guests as we were not in a position to sufficiently warn them. We fully support games that engage with difficult subjects, and we made the decision in relation to our event only and with the wellbeing of all guests as our priority.”
Despite the setback, the trailer is now available on YouTube. While it delves into themes of abuse and trauma—primarily conveyed through dialogue and abstract visuals—it remains less shocking than some recent offerings from other game developers. Comparisons have been drawn to Horses, a game that faced bans from several major digital storefronts due to its controversial visuals and themes, which, while provocative, do not seem more extreme than those found in a typical transgressive horror film.
Jones poignantly reflected on the significance of her work, stating, “Art should make people feel something. The Quiet Things is deeply personal to me. It’s my story. It’s about trauma, abuse, survival, and giving survivors a voice. It’s about people being shut down and silenced, and what that does to them. So there is something deeply painful about reliving that again now.”
